Russia Presents Drafts Resolution to Get ‘Politicized’ OPCW ‘Back on Track’

Russia has presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council to “get the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) back on track”, as it believes the UN’s chemical watchdog has been “hijacked by politics”.

After putting forward the draft UNSC resolution, Russia’s UN ambassador charged that the OPCW had been hijacked by politics and its mandate derailed.

 “We are trying to get the OPCW back on track because it (has) slided off the track and now it is so politicized,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters, according to Press TV.

“It was always a technical organ where consensus prevailed, and now we see that it is completely politicized, with politicized agenda from various parties.”

“We want the OPCW to get back to where it was before,” Nebenzia said.

 The draft text, seen by AFP, notes “with concern the continuing politicization of the work of the OPCW” which “significantly reduces the efficiency of the organization’s activities.”

The draft resolution states that the Security Council – where Russia holds veto power – is the only international body that can impose measures on countries that violate the Chemical Weapons Convention.

H.M